The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-03-25

l
me at the mysterious re-appearanoe Of
those horrid slippers, as l now began
to think of them. Moreover, | knew
Fortescue had very sensitive tempera-
ment, and had been advised by his doc
tor to avoid all mental excitement.
Therefore had double reason for
treating the occurrence as joke first,
to persuade myself that it was absurd
to regard the incident as supernatural,
and secondly, that by so believing l
might sufficiently influence Fortescue
to think the same.
| While these thoughts flashed through
my mind Fortescue still had his hand
on my arm, grasping it unconsciously
with an evertighteniDg grasp his 9TH
er hand was outstretched, pointing to
the slippers, and his eyes were fixed on
them with an expression of horror i'm.
possible to describe.
"Come, Fortescue,' said with an
effort, trsing to laugh easily, "don't be
so tragic, man remember it is late and
we must be up early if we want TO
have try for bear,' and | gently
shook him by the shoulder.
The action seemed to rouse him from
the trance OF horror he had fallen into
and with great gasp for breath he
passed his hand over his eyes and in a
weak voice said: 80, Jack, is it you ?
What do you want?"
~ want you to get to rest like
sensible man instead of striking atti
tudes," | returned GROSSLY.
81 could not sleep if did go to bod"
he answered. 81 shall have another
pipe and sit by the fire awhile. De-
Isle, he contin led slowly and with
great emphasis, "there is somebody |
standing in those slippers. In a short
time should have seen her face"
"Are you mad or drunk, my friend |
Or do you take me for fool ?" | ex-
claimed, turning to look at him before
lying down.
"Neither the one nor the other,.' he
returned so gently that felt ashamed
OF my rude speech; and after again
reminding him Of the hard day before
us, pulled the bed-clothes over nv
head IN such fashion that could watch
him, for, in spite of myself, l did not
feel easy about him. But so much for
good Intentions, my head no sooner
touched the pillow than / fell fast
| asleep
1t could not have been more than
half an hour before | woke suddenly
and completely with start, and the
feeling that some one in desperate need
bad shouted to me by name. So sud
denly had awakened, that for an in
slant could not recolect where was
Then L sprang out of bed, and / saw
Fortescue lying back in his chair, ap-
parently In the last agonies of strangu.
lation; his eyes starting from his head,
were fixed in an intense and horrible
stare at something just above him, and
his hands were fighting and tearing to
remove something, invisible to me,
from his throat. Also / noticed that
the slippers were now close beside his
chair, and the heel of one of them was
raised, as woman stands when bend
ing over something.
l seized the watering and dashed
the contents IN his face. Then flung
the door wide open and taking him in
my arms with strength which aston
ishes me now to think of, bore him out
of that accursed room, shouting wildly
the while for Jose. The uproar which
| made quickly brought not only Jose,
but the landlord and his family on the
scene.
Good heavens! how they chartered
and crossed themselves and muttered
charms against the power of the evi.
one! And in what an lnexplicable
mixture of French and Spanish and
English l endeavored to ,ell them what
had happened. | would not give it
you if could.
At length Fortescue seems to be re-
covering, and fearing that the sight of
the room might have an i'll effect on
him | made Jose take blanket from {
the bed, and placing my poor friend on {
it, we together carried him down the S
narrow stairs TO the little room where t
he had supped. Here the fire was for
tunately still alight, aud the landlord, S
who was most anxious to do all in his
power for us, hastily threw on some
logs of wood, and telling his wife to !
boil can of water, left the room. He {
presently returned, bottle of cordial I
under his arm. Then sending his
daughter for various condiments, he 9
skillfully concocted mixture, the like !
OF viii ,h | never tasted before or since. +
and handed us two glasses, under the
influence of which | saw to my salts c
faction that Foriescue gradually re- /
gained his strength !
"Come, landlord" | said perempto- q
r'ly, having asked Fort,scue whether |
he wond care to talk about the mystic Q
rious affalr-'come landlord, you must {
tell us the meaning of those ghostly t
slippers for twice we placed them out a
side the door, and twice they were re-
turned to the same spot by some invisi- f
BILE agency, and when my friend was 7
taken i'll, they were standing close be- s
side his chair"
Here our host glanced uneasily at b
Fortescue, and, crossing himself, re-
spectfully asked of Jose his name. Y
''El Senior Fortescue," was the an, r
swer. +
He shook his head as though puzzled t
lhen muttered something to himself in II
Spanish, of which could catch moth =
ing but the French name 'Lamonte" o
"Come now," | repeated impatiently, v
''there is something to tell, l am con v
vinced draw up to the fire and tell us n
all about this mystery 8
Seeing that we were determined to d
hear all, the landlord, with an express s
sive shrug of the shoulders, sat him {
self by the fire, and the two women. s
who had been listening attentively the v
while, expressed an opinion that it was u
not worth while going to bed again for P
the short night which yet remained,
with the greatest sang-froid, took each a
a Spanish cigarilo from our hosts s
store, lighted them and commenced Y
an example we had no scru- Ii
Pile In following. And this is the story d
we heard from the landlord and inter
preted by Jose when we could not fol-